Not that I'm the best candidate to start a thread, but I thought this was a pretty good idea since we totally managed to derail a thread with what music people listen to, and I thought it'd be neat if people could converse about their mapping habits, inspirations, and what not in here.

Everyone happy with this? I'll edit the first post with this if everyone's okay with it:

Things this thread is not:
1. This is not a thread for mapping questions, or at least questions along the lines of, "How do I get blah to do blah?" That thread would be in this section at the Mapping Question Megathread v3.
2. This is not a thread to show off your work in progress maps. Feel free to check out The Facepunch "Mapping Pimpage/WIP" Thread.
3. This is not a place for you to go full-retard with your posts. This is also not an absolute off-topic thread.
4. This is not.

Things this thread is:
1. This thread is the place to discuss all of your habits, influences, and appreciations regarding mapping.
2. This thread is the place to discuss things like what you listen to while you map and things of that nature.
3. This thread is for everything that can't fit in the Map Pimpage or Mapping Question thread but is something worth posting.
4. This thread is basically loosely wrapped around mapping and gaming. If your post would fit better in here then you probably should move to that thread for your post.

Yeah, but this thread serves as it's own kind of thread geared specifically towards mappers while still being too off-topic for things like the Map Pimpage thread and the Mapping Question thread. Examples of topics: What you listen to when you map, appreciation/discussion of other maps and the Source Engine, inspiration for maps... things of that nature. It's not terribly off topic for the other threads, but I think it'd be neat to separate that and keep it in it's own thread.

I had this really cool idea for a map, like it was a swamp filled with cabins and shit, also with caves, and then one of my many cats got hit by a car and I had to bury him. Wish I had more time in a day to map.
How often do you guys map?

I find that listening to fitting music helps me brainstorm. I am currently working on a modern house and listening to slow jazz.
Otherwise my music preference is really just whatever I feel like listening to at the time.

The chat thread is for a larger audience, such as Americans or Frenchies or Australians. This is just for us mappers to discuss things related to mapping that does not have to do with the technicalities of it such as questions or texturing.

Though, I guess it's because I prefer to map more dirty, city-like things.

This is usually the case for me as well, I can work on Jorpakko for like 2 days and then completely loose it. Though Jorpakko is incredibly easy to add to, so It's not like I've completely lost my motivation.

It kind of depends on how long I spent on it the day before. Usually I can map for about 4 hours with snacks and drinks. 1 without. I get distracted easily and the drinks help me. Especially orange soda

I love to listen to Solar Field's music, he made the music for Mirror's Edge and also 'Movements'. Over an hour of awesome ambience.

Man, takes me back MONTHS to when I started making my Mirror's Edge inspired map (still going!). The entire few weeks of me mapping it consisted of me going to last.fm and playing Solar Fields radio while I mapped for hours on end. It always seems to give me some inspiration to make something else in my map, and further progress it (and hope that Mirror's Edge 2 will FINALLY have some news). Ambient music is simply amazing.

And the Mirror's Edge Soundtrack isn't a soundtrack, it's a work of art, just like the rest of the game.

What I'm looking to figure out is how exactly HDR is supposed to look. I have certain sections of my map where I catch myself thinking, "Well, uh, I think that's enough." Certain parts are obviously blaring and I'm fixing that, but I don't know when enough is enough.

So, right now I'm looking at HDR photos and other mapping pictures. Hm.